Charles a



(No Model.) E

O. A. HITO'HOOGK.

I I TELEPHONE SWITCH.

N 3 Patented Mar. 15, 1887.

7V5 I 1m 02? f I az-Zes villain 00%.

J 0. Ok@

2 UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

CHARLES A. I-IITOHOOOK, OF NORTH EAST, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF THREE-FOURTHS TO \VILLIAM BURNLEY, OF SAME PLACE, SAMUEL A. DAVENPORT, OF ERIE, AND LEWIS F. \VATSON, OF I/VARREN, PA.

'TELEPHON SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 359,356, dated March 15, 1887.

Application filed December 15, 1886. Serial No. 221,643. (No model.) I

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. CHARLES A. HITCH- COOK, a citizen of the United States, residing at North East, in the county of Erie and State 5 of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Telephone- Switches, 01" which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to that class of telephone-switches in which a hooked lever or support for a receiving-instrument operates in such a manner that the movement of the hooked lever in one direction disconnects the call-circuit from the main line, brings in the receiving-instrument and secondary circuit of 1 the transmitter, and'at the same time completes the primary local circuit of the transmitter, while a movement of the lever in the other direction cuts out the receiving-instrument and secondary circuit of the transmitter and restores the call-circuit.

In an application for patentfiled by William Burnley, April 10,1886, Serial No. 198,482, is shown a telephoneswitch systemjn which fixed mercury contactcups are combinedwith electrodes carried by a movable bar, which is operated by the lever upon which the telephone-receiver is hung. The object of the present invention is to improve upon the construction and arrangement of the switch 0 system shown in said application for patent and attain great simplicity and a perfect operation of the parts.-

To these ends the invention consists in the construction and combination of devices, which will be hereinafter fully described, and then set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents one form of switch system embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 shows another form with an arrangement of parts the reverse of that seen in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the line a: x of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 isa perspective view of a mercury contactcup. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of said cup.

It is not considered necessary to represent anything but the special devices constituting the switch, since the arrangement of the different circuits and instruments of a telephone system are well known and understood, and

are, moreover, shown the application for patcut heretofore referred to.

The reference-numeral l designates the door of a telephone-transmitter casing, which C011- tains the usual appliances of alocal-telephone system. A horizontal lever, 2, terminating in an end hook, 3, serves as a support for the hand-telephone or receiving-instrument. This hooked lever maybe pivoted at the end opposite the hook, asis seen in Fig. 1, or the pivot is removed to a point near the middle of the lever, as is shown in Fig. 2. Thelever moves up and down in a guide or keeper, 4, and a spring,-5, serves to hold it in a horizontal position or at the top of the keeper 4. When the receiving -instrument is placed on the hook, the pressure of the spring is overcome, and the lever is depressed to the bottom of the keeper. The lever 2 is connected with movable devices, which serve to open and close the local and line circuits comprised in a local-telephone system. These movable de vices consist of two vertically-sliding plates or shoes, 8 and 9, which are made of unequal length, as is seen in the drawings, and have strips, 10,of wood or other non-conducting material applied thereto. The plates or shoes 8 and 9 are preferably made of metal, and they have beveled or inclined flanges 11 formed at the top and bottom, so as to form a dovetail seat, into which the wooden strip 10 is slipped and secured by said flanges. Slots 12 are provided at the top and bottom of the metal plates 8 and 9, and through these slots project headed pins 13, which serve as guides upon which the plates can slide up and down. The rear side of each wooden strip 10 is cut out, as is seen in Fig. 3, so as to receive the heads of the pins 13 and allow the metal plates or shoes to move on said pins.

The longest wooden strip has two dovetail grooves cut in its front face, and the shorter strip has only one such groove. The grooves in the wooden strips serve to receive and hold mercury-cups 15, two of which are mounted on the long wooden strip and one on the other. The mercury-cups are made of glass, earthen Ware, or other suitable material, and they each have a central well or tube, 16, somewhat in the nature of an ordinary ink-well. On the back of each cup is formed a dovetail tenon, 17, which is slipped into the dovetail groove in the wooden strip, in order to hold it firmly in place. Each cup is partly filled with mercury, and the electrode-wires can be made to dip into the same, as is shown in Fig. 5.

In the arrangement represented in Fig. 1 the longest plate or shoe,with its two mercurycups, is located near the hinged side of the door 1, and the hooked lever or receiver-support is connected with said plate or shoe by a link, 18, and a secondary lever, 19. This lever is fulcrumed at one of its ends, and its other end fits into a gain or notch in the wooden strip, so that when the switch-lever is depressed the secondary lever will be correspondingly moved by the link 18, in order to lower the slide or shoe 8 and carry the mercury-cups away from the electrodes 20 and 21, as will readily be understood. These electrodes 20 and 2t may represent, respectively, the local battery or transmitter and the secondary or line circuits.

The short slide or shoe, with its wooden strip and mercury-cup mounted thereon, is arranged in cooperative relation to two electrodes, 22, which are included in the signaling or call circuit. In the arrangement seen in Fig. 1, this short shoe is operated by a third centrally-pivoted lever, 25,which is connected with the secondary lever by a link, 26. It is evident that the depression of the switch-lever will, by the arrangement of the intermediate levers, cause the two shoes and their appendages to move in opposite directions, the longer moving down and the short one in an upward direction; hence it follows by such operation that the local-battery circuit is broken and the signaling-circuit closed.

In the arrangement seen in Fig. 2 the inter mediate levers are dispensed with and the position of the shoes or slides revcrsed-that is, the short shoeis brought near the hinged side of the door and the long shoe near the side where the hooked lever projects. The switchlever is in this instance connected by a long link, 28, with the short shoe, and thelong shoe is connected by a shortlink, 29, with the switchlever. In order to make the connection of the link 29 with the long shoe, the middle portion of its lower end is not turned up, but is left horizontal to the face of the shoe, so as to form a tongue, 30, to which the link is attached.

The operation of a telephone-switch constructed as above described will be readily understood, it being evident that when the receiving-instrument is on the switch-lever the circuits are made as has already been indicated, and when the parts are in the position seen in Figs. 1 and 2 the circuits are in condi-' tion for telephonic communication.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a telephone-switch system, the com bination of a movable shoe or slide-and mercury contact-cups mountedlthereonlwith the switchlever connected with said shoe or slide and electrodes, from and toward which the mercurycups are carried by the movement of the shoe or slide, substantially as described.

2. In a telephone-switch system, the combination of two slides or shoes, mercury contactcups mounted thereon, the switch-lever, connections between said slides or shoes and the switch-lever, and electrodes arranged in co-operative relation to the mercury-cups, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the metal plate or shoe having flanged ends, the wooden strip held between said flanges and having a seat or groove, and the mercury-cup fitted in the latter, with the switch-lever, the fixed electrodes, and guides upon which the metal plate 01' shoe can slide, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES A. IIITCHCOCK.

\Vitnesses:

Gno. P. GRIFFITH, THOMAS It. GRIFFITH. 

